The Journal of San Diego History
The homosexual rights movement developed between 1945 and the passing
of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s. Historians have identified events of
the post-World War II era as crucial to the creation of a sustained movement.
For example, Allan Berube and John D’ Emilio identified war mobilization and
post-war politics as important factors in a group “awakening” as they allowed
gay men and women to interact in new ways, even as they became targets of
institutionalized discrimination by the military and government.^1 Reports on
sexual behavior published by Alfred C. Kinsey in 1948 and 1953 also stimulated a
powerful change of consciousness within the GLBT community. Kinsey suggested
that a higher percentage of males and females engaged in homosexual acts than
society previously accepted. He argued that homosexuality was not a disease of
the select few, but a sexual preference of many Americans.^ Many churches and
church leaders immediately challenged the Kinsey Reports.^2 Billy Graham stated,
“It is impossible to estimate the damage it will do to the already deteriorating
morals of America.” His view was supported by the head of the Union Theological
Seminary who saw Kinsey’s report as “a prevailing degradation in American
morality approximating the worst decadence of the Roman Empire.”^3 Nevertheless,
Kinsey’s reports changed “the nature of public discussion of sexuality as well
as society’s perception of its own behavior.”^4 While their validity continues to be
challenged, the reports made sexuality a topic in public discourse.
In the wake of 1960s legislation protecting the legal rights of African Americans
and women, many gays and lesbians took hope and began to create organizations,
institutions, and communities for themselves.^5 While the more confrontational
gay liberation movement looked to overthrow patriarchy, advocates of the gay
civil rights movement attempted to transform existing patriarchal institutions
and neighborhoods. In San Diego, the emergence of the Hillcrest neighborhood as
a gay “haven and home” typified national trends of what Michael Dillinger calls
“gay-motivated positive gentrification,” or more simply “the investment of the gay
community in itself.” Dillinger describes how the gay and lesbian community
transformed Hillcrest from a run-down neighborhood of an “aged population” into
the center of gay culture and vitality.^6 Similarly, some GLBT community members
sought to extend this transforming concept into the Christian sphere. By 1979, four
well-established GLBT Christian groups were promoting gay Christianity to the
San Diego public.^7
The confluence of homosexuality and Christianity in San Diego began
in April 1970 when the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) created an
environment for gays and lesbians to integrate their sexuality and faith. Led by
Reverend Troy Perry and Howard Williams, this extension of the Los Angeles
home church opened in Hillcrest and encompassed parishioners from diverse
Christian traditions.^8 Since orthodox theology had been used to condemn their
sexuality, MCC used a new theology to affirm homosexuality as a gift from God.
Locally, it was the first church of this kind and provided the foundation on which
GLBT organizations could create gay, Christian spaces in San Diego. Both MCC’s
theology and warm, accepting fellowship were important in grounding the
concept of GLBT Christianity for the local gay community.
MCC San Diego adopted a dual-purposed gay theology, or what Perry called
“liberal evangelical” theology.^9 First, it attempted to discredit the so-called
“clobber passages” in the Bible used to condemn homosexuality. “Clobber